To Protect
by therealesther
Summary: Kakashi wonders, as he uses his spare afternoon to go sit in the waiting area of the clinic where Sakura is training, whether he is going too far.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I've also found myself slacking off on reading the manga updates, but I'm sure you didn't need to know that...

**To Protect**

Sakura is growing up.

Kakashi can see it.

He thinks he didn't notice it happening as fast as he could have, or should have, but maybe he hasn't noticed too late. He's still worried though, because even if it's taken him this long to notice, other people are bound to have noticed already. So he decides to keep an eye open and fixed firmly on his pink-haired subordinate.

When he does this, he starts to notice other people noticing. There are boys who are noticing. They notice from shop doorways or out of windows, or sitting on benches; Sakura as she walks down the street, pale pink hair brushing against her smooth neck. If they notice too obviously, Kakashi makes sure to walk a little closer to her, or to start twirling a spare kunai on the end of his finger. There are men noticing her too; shinobi in the hospital where she works, in the break room, in the training grounds. Kakashi can't shadow her all day long, but he can lure her out to train with him, or make surprise lunch time visits to take her out for ramen away from the men who are noticing too much.

Men and boys are noticing Sakura, but that is normal; they can be kept at bay by threats veiled in bland stares and light injuries masked as accidents. They are not what keep Kakashi awake at night, worrying about her.

It is the older kunoichi that Kakashi fears. They wear the forms and faces of women, but inside they are forged from steel. They have seen and done and felt and been things that would break a man, and indeed, most of them are broken to varying degrees. They are different ages, sizes, shapes, levels of skill, professional positions, but they all have one thing in common: they have all successfully completed at least one "special kunoichi mission." This means that all of them, at least once, have subdued their extraordinary strength, or speed, or agility, or jutsu, and allowed their bodies to be used and abused, for the sake of completing a mission.

And they are always searching for new recruits.

Kakashi knows that the Yamanaka girl is in their sights. She has blonde hair, a pretty face, and a figure well-developed for a fifteen year old. Hyuuga Hinata, with her ivory skin and silken black hair is also a worthy target, but the Hyuuga clan would never risk their future Head being accidentally impregnated on a mission. It has happened before.

The girl on Maito Gai's team has already been recruited. A few months ago, Kakashi happened to see her in the main building. She brushed past him with a quick smile, and he caught a glimpse of the characteristic red stamp on the mission scroll tucked in her chuunin vest. He wonders if Gai knows. He wonders if Gai thought about going to the same lengths to try and protect Tenten that Kakashi is going to in order to protect Sakura. Kakashi wonders, as he uses his spare afternoon to go sit in the waiting area of the clinic where Sakura is training, whether he is going too far. At that moment, Sakura emerges from the room with her bag slung over her shoulder and white medic's coat over one arm, and brightens up as she catches sight of him behind his magazine.

"Kakashi sensei! What are you doing here?" She walks up to him and bends down, angling her head to see what he's reading. Behind her, Kakashi notices two young chuunin run appreciative gazes up and down her legs. Casually, he reaches up as if to scratch his head, and pushes up his headband. The two young men turn visibly pale at their first glimpse of the sharingan, and hurriedly move away.

Kakashi slips the headband back down just as Sakura's gaze shifts to his face, and he smiles innocently at her.

"Oh, I just came to wait for a friend," he says.

"Oh," she says, and he feels momentarily confused by the disappointment he hears in her voice.

"So now that you're here, how about some tea? You look tired," he finishes, and no matter how much he might try to deny it, there's no way that a jounin worth his vest can fail to observe how her face lights up at these words and a faint blush appears in her cheeks.

Even after he walks her to her home from the tea house, walking close all the way, he can't forget the blush, or her smiles. This is his former student and current subordinate, a fifteen year old girl who has flawless chakra control and can already manipulate a human body's inner workings with the skill of a medic twice her age. She is a girl who beams at the sight of her former sensei and blushes happily when he calls her his friend and buys her a cup of chrysanthemum tea.

All these things, and more, convince Kakashi that he is doing the right thing when he walks into the Hokage's office the next day.

"Hokage-sama, I request that Haruno Sakura be excluded from selection for special kunoichi missions."

The Hokage looks up tiredly from her paperwork.

"I don't know that that's something that you can really have any say in, Kakashi," she says flatly.

"I understand that, Hokage-sama," he says, "But I feel obliged to inform you that if she _is_ sent on any such missions, I personally guarantee that they will result in assassination of the targets."

Tsunade looks at him, for a long moment, a fine line appearing between her brows. Kakashi returns her gaze steadily. At last the Hokage looks down at the page in front of her, and picks up her pen again.

"Very well, I'll see that her name isn't brought up," she says, pen already scratching away at the next document.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

As Kakashi opens the door to leave, the Hokage's voice stops him.

"You can't protect her forever, Kakashi."

He tilts his head and gazes back over his shoulder at her.

"Just watch me."

AN: Reviews, comments, criticisms all very welcome.


	2. Tenten

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or the poor kunoichi.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the kind reviews for the first chapter! This is dedicated to Mateba and Geminia, whose reviews inspired me to keep going with this idea. I hope you enjoy it!

**Tenten**

Tenten is sixteen years old, and a chuunin. This will not be the case much longer, as her seventeenth birthday approaches, along with the jounin exams. She feels like she has been waiting for these exams all her life, as if everything in her career as a kunoichi has been leading up to this point. She has trained tirelessly, developed her skills and worked on her weak points obsessively until they have become equal with her strengths. She feels closer than ever to emulating her idol, Tsunade-sama, and longs for the day when she can stand before the legendary kunoichi and accept her jounin's vest with pride. This is what she lives for; this is what she breathes for. She is all kunoichi, the spirit enhanced, not caged, by a young woman's lean, hard-muscled body.

There are no obstacles in her way. There are no distractions. Not anymore.

Once upon a time, Tenten was a fourteen year old girl. She was almost at chuunin level, and her weapons skills were unsurpassed by any other kunoichi among her peers. She trained very hard with her team mates, completed missions, developed her techniques and became more aware of her own weaknesses. One of these was her handsome, dark-haired, pale-eyed team mate, who was already a chuunin and training for the jounin exams. During training he evaded all her attacks with dizzying grace, and away from training he occasionally accepted her tentative overtures with cool camaraderie that kept her awake at night, endlessly analysing every look and gesture, trying not to read too much into them or to misinterpret him according to her heart's wishes.

She knew that if he passed the jounin exams – and he would, she had no doubt of his talent and ability – he would leave the four man unit and be sent on individual missions, or placed into a new jounin team. She also knew that she would never be able to catch up with him, not at her current level, so she tried harder and trained longer. It wasn't enough. There wasn't enough time. She began to despair.

Then one day, she overheard two older kunoichi talking.

"He was ugly."

"Oh?"

"Like a toad."

"Gross."

"Yeah, but on the plus side, with this mission done, that chuunin vest is in the bag."

"I could use a pay rise; I should look into doing another one."

"There's plenty of demand at the moment, so go for it."

Heart pounding, Tenten approached the two women and asked for more information. The taller one looked her up and down with a coolly measuring gaze that lingered on her newly-curved hips and narrow waist, before trailing slowly up to meet her eyes.

"How old are you?"

"I'm nearly fifteen."

The two women exchanged glances. The tall one shrugged and spoke.

"Old enough. Go to the kunoichi at the missions desk. Ask her to give you a 'lipstick mission.'"

A 'lipstick mission'.

At the time, Tenten had thought it sounded funny. Kind of like a mission to raid a beauty salon or to smuggle cosmetics to the pre-teen daughters of the rich. However, she knew enough not to tell Gai-sensei or her parents. Her parents always accepted the excuse "classified mission," and while she knew that Gai-sensei cared about her well-being as his subordinate, he saw her as his most capable, stable student, who needed the least well-meant meddling in her life.

When she found out exactly what her mission involved, Tenten was nervous, but relieved that another, more experienced kunoichi would be going with her. As the two girls, clad in civilian clothes, travelled to the rendezvous point, the older girl asked her,

"You're pretty young. What got you into doing a lipstick mission so soon?"

"I need to become a chuunin as soon as possible, and I heard this was the way for a kunoichi to get bonus points," Tenten explained, trying to ignore the churning of her stomach.

"Well, that's for sure, although to get a jounin vest it doesn't count for that much," the other girl agreed. She tilted her head, short black bob swaying on a level with her full lips, and looked narrowly at Tenten.

"Why the desperate urge to be a chuunin so soon? Need the money? Or just trying to impress someone?" she asked, grinning at the rising blush on Tenten's cheeks.

"I'm not trying to impress him!" Tenten blurted out, then blushed harder. No matter how nauseous she was starting to feel, she was still a kunoichi. She had to be in control. She lowered her voice and added, "I'm trying to catch up to him, that's all."

The older girl's grin faded. "And this is the way you're going to do it?"

Tenten set her jaw. In the distance, the raucous bar which contained their targets was coming into view.

"Yes."

Her first lipstick mission wasn't actually as bad as she had feared. At least, she thinks it wasn't. Because their aim was simply to occupy their targets long enough to allow a silk merchant to escape with his wares intact down the river, it was enough to flirt with the two men, getting them steadily drunker and fascinating them enough so that they forgot about the time. Tenten wasn't exactly sure what to do, but she followed the older girl's lead and found that after a few drinks that burned all the way down her throat, she didn't mind too much when one of the targets' hands started wandering over her thighs. She managed to avoid his lips when he tried to kiss her a few times, and just stopped herself from breaking his fingers when he reached for her breast.

All in all, that first mission, successfully completed, in combination with all her training and performance on the chuunin test, ensured Tenten a pass. When she got the chuunin vest, she celebrated that evening with her team. Lee and Gai-sensei were raucous and enthusiastic in their praise of her, then left early in order to fit in some last minute preparation for Lee's final match, which would take place the next day. She and Neji were left sitting in the Korean BBQ restaurant, watching the slices of meat sizzle and pop on the red-hot grill.

"You should go home and sleep," said Neji, "You must be tired."

Tenten smiled. "Will you walk with me?"

He looked at her, his face unreadable. "You're a chuunin now, Tenten. You shouldn't need anyone to protect you."

She felt her face grow hot. "I don't, I just – "

"I have to take the jounin exams soon, Tenten. The Main House expects me to pass." She couldn't look at his face as he spoke. "I can't be distracted from my goal by anything." Neji paused. "Or anyone."

A dull, cold ache settled in her chest. She felt sick.

"I understand."

He stood up and left without saying anything else. Six months later, he passed the jounin exams.

Tenten sat for a while longer in the restaurant, watching the meat burn slowly into withered blackened crisps. Two months later, she accepted her second 'lipstick mission'. Somewhere along the way, the cold dull ache in her chest seemed to spread, and harden, and new goals took shape in her mind.

Become stronger.

Become a jounin.

By any means.

No one would ever need to protect her.

Author's Note: reviews, comments and criticisms all very welcome!


	3. Ino

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Ino. Oh well.

Author's Note: Thanks again for all the feedback! I really appreciate the encouragement.

**Ino**

After Asuma was killed, and avenged, the three remaining members of team 10 were somewhat at a loss. For a while, they held together under Shikamaru's leadership, training together every day, running through the drills and exercises that their deceased sensei had taught them. They ate Korean BBQ together, and took comfort from the bittersweet memories. They visited Kurenai-sensei sometimes, though it was Shikamaru who went regularly by himself. Asuma had kind of entrusted his unborn child to his genius student's protection, after all.

They muddled along, feeling incomplete, but clinging together. Until Shikamaru started receiving personal summonses from the Hokage herself. He was only a chuunin, just like Chouji and Ino, but at the same time, he was one of the most brilliant strategists the Leaf had ever seen, and people were taking notice. Ino and Chouji were very proud of their team mate, and glad that, despite his new found busyness as an advisor to the Hokage, he still made sure to spend time with them wherever possible.

Ino and Chouji continued to train together, although without its third member, the famous junior Ino-Shika-Chou trio was not very effective. The disparities in their respective jutsu were too great to allow them to assist each other to develop very much, which was pointed out to Ino when one day she overheard Chouji's father explain to her father why he would personally oversee Chouji's training from now on.

"I understand," Ino's father said, nodding in agreement, "It's just not efficient to let them go on like this. They won't be able to complete missions with just the two of them. It's not fair to hold Chouji back like this."

"And Ino as well, of course," Chouji's father said, smiling with relief.

"I can train Ino myself. She needs to learn more of the Yamanaka's hidden jutsu anyway. I don't think her ninjutsu is really up to par, not if she wants to reach jounin status before she's twenty."

Ino was a bit hurt at these words, but couldn't deny their truth. And she did want to reach jounin status soon, she really did, she just wasn't exactly sure why. She supposed she had had dreams of becoming a great kunoichi like Tsunade-sama, but that had been when she was about seven years old. Since then, it really had been her rivalry with Sakura that had driven her to achieve. When the rivalry slowly changed back into friendship, her team members kept her motivated – "No way is a fatty or a lazy ass going to beat _me_!" But now, what was there?

Ino loved the Leaf Village, she really did, and she had pride in her abilities. It was just that as a chuunin, she was making decent wages, and as far as she could see, the only difference was that a jounin had much harder missions with a much higher chance of, well, dying. Ino was only seventeen years old and she didn't want to die. Lately she had had thoughts about becoming a teacher in the academy; she was good with kids, and her grades had been high enough to show that she knew her theory as well as her taijutsu. She didn't need to become a jounin to be an academy teacher.

Ino wished she could tell all this to her father. She wished he was a quiet, no name jounin who wasn't part of an infamous, death-defying trio and that he had no particularly significant jutsu that were needed for the protection of the village. She began to train with him, and tried not to listen to his constant reminiscing about the jounin exam and his comparisons of her with other female chuunin in training for it. Ino didn't want to do this; she wanted a way out.

One day, she found it. Actually, it found her.

Her father had been summoned to the administration building and she was left sitting cross-legged on the grass, training her chakra. Before he left, he had admonished her yet again for wearing make-up at training. "Instead of wasting time on make-up, you should train harder, Ino. I won't always be around to protect you. And besides, nobody's around to see it," he had said, shaking his head and chuckling. Ino shrugged it off; he didn't really mind, and besides, she liked the way this shade of eye shadow complimented her eyes.

"You know, your dad was wrong about the make-up," a voice spoke up from a few metres away. Ino opened one eye, then the other. The speaker was a tall girl with brown hair and narrow dark eyes. She looked to be a few years older than Ino, and her lips made a crimson slash across her pale face.

"You mean that somebody's around to see it? Because clearly you've been stalking me for at least the last half hour," said Ino coolly, sliding a few shuriken onto her fingers.

The girl laughed and held up her hands in a placating gesture.

"Easy, tiger! I didn't mean it that way, but it's true, I have been watching you for a while."

Ino fluidly rose to her feet, keeping the shuriken in her grasp. "Why have you been watching me?"

The girl grinned easily. "Because you're beautiful. I think you're probably the best-looking kunoichi in the village and it would be a crime not to make the most of that."

Ino raised her eyebrows. "Well, number one, I like boys, and number two, what the hell are you talking about?"

The girl sighed. "Well, number one, what a waste, and number two, this is what the hell I'm talking about." She reached into a pouch hanging from her belt and pulled out a scroll, which she tossed to Ino. Ino caught it and unrolled it, immediately noticing a bright crimson stamp at the top.

"This is a mission scroll!"

"Well-spotted," said the girl with a smirk, "We call it a 'lipstick mission.' That's where you use the smoking hot gifts the gods gave you to get a target to give you information, give you money, give you time, or," she paused, "To just give you a clear shot."

Ino scanned the mission scroll, aware that the girl was watching her closely. She looked up at last.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Well, the price tag on one of these is at least one and a half times the tag on regular missions. You do enough of these; you could buy a house before you're thirty. Then there're the bonus points. You have to have the jutsus and skills as well of course, but the village will practically owe it you to make you a jounin, or help you to get any other job you want." The girl shifted her stance, still watching Ino, who appeared to be lost in thought, a world of possibilities opening up before her.

"Your first mission can be that one right there," the girl continued, gesturing to the scroll. "They told me I needed a partner and I figure I can't do better than you. So how about it?"

Ino's eyes snapped into focus. "Yeah, I'll give it a try." The girl smiled in satisfaction and began to speak, but Ino held up a hand.

"Wait a second, I could suck at this. Are you sure I can do something like this, just from watching me for a few days?"

The girl laughed aloud, and then in a blur of movement was standing right behind Ino, one hand on Ino's waist, and the other wound in her silken blonde ponytail. Ino's right hand was rock steady, holding the blade of a kunai poised at the girl's throat. The girl's voice was husky when she spoke.

"Believe me Yamanaka Ino; you're going to be a natural."

Author's Note: All comments and criticisms very welcome. Only two more chapters to go.


	4. Hinata

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Pity._

**To Protect**

It was a humid, cloudy spring day when Hyuuga Hinata went to the mission desk alone. She had her eye on a new calligraphy set of the highest quality, with a price tag to match, and didn't feel it was worth involving her whole team's effort to help fund her hobby. A short solo mission would be just the thing, she thought as she entered the mission room and approached the shinobi sitting behind the long desk.

The girl looked up at her over a pair of purple-framed spectacles.

"Can I help you?"

"I'd like a solo mission please," Hinata said loudly. It had taken a while to muster the courage to raise her voice in public, but constantly being asked to speak up or being made to repeat herself had trained her well.

"Yeah, I'm not deaf," the girl said snappily, as she began shuffling through the pile of scrolls in front of her. Hinata's cheeks burned with embarrassment, and she dug her hands into the pockets of her chuunin vest.

"What rank?"

"Um, C rank please," she almost whispered.

"Speak up, can't you? Lipstick was it? You're in luck, we had a new batch just come in this morning."

Before Hinata could speak, a scroll marked with a peculiar crimson stamp was thrust across the table at her. Resigned, she reached for the mission, only to have it snatched up by a slender white hand.

A feminine voice spoke coldly from beside her.

"_I'll_ take that one."

Hinata jumped with surprise and turned to see another kunoichi beside her. She had a brief glimpse of sky blue eyes and a beauty spot on one cheek, before the kunoichi moved forward and swiftly smacked the girl behind the desk on the head.

"Ow! Mika! What the hell are you doing?" The be-spectacled girl rubbed her head and glared up at the kunoichi in outrage.

"Saving your neck, you idiot," hissed the kunoichi, low. "Do you even realise you were giving a Hyuuga Main House member a Lipstick mission?"

The girl behind the desk gulped, her face turning a shade paler. "But Mika, she asked me for it! I swear!"

The kunoichi whirled to stare at Hinata, who stared back in utter confusion and apprehension.

"Is that true?"

"N-no, it's – I mean – That is, I think she didn't hear me properly. I asked f-for a C rank, and she, I, I guess I didn't speak clearly. I'm sorry." Hinata stumbled nervously over her words, her hands coming up to clench in her vest pockets.

The kunoichi named Mika seemed to relax slightly, and after a moment turned back to the girl behind the desk.

"Give her a C rank, quick."

With trembling hands, the girl dug into a box of scrolls on the desk, selected one seemingly at random, and passed it to Hinata as if it burned her.

Automatically, Hinata tucked the scroll into her vest pocket then stood, hesitating. She desperately wanted to leave the room and get out of this bewildering, awkward situation, but an overwhelming desire for clarification held her back.

"What – what is a Lipstick mission?" she asked, looking from the girl to the kunoichi. The pair exchanged glances, as if considering. Then the kunoichi called Mika slipped her own newly-acquired scroll into a pouch at her hip and started walking to the door.

"Just one more thing that separates the Hyuuga from the rest of us, _Hyuuga-sama_," without breaking stride, she threw the words over her shoulder as she disappeared down the corridor.

Hinata stared at the open doorway for a long moment. She looked back toward the desk, but the girl wearing spectacles was already on her feet, hurriedly shuffling a stack of folders.

"I have to be going, I have to get these to the archives department," she explained unconvincingly. She froze as Hinata took a few steps towards her, and spoke in a low voice.

"Please. If you can't tell me what it is, then can you at least tell me why a Hyuuga can't do one?"

The girl stood, staring down at the desk, biting her lip. Hinata gazed at her, unable to believe that the smart-alecky, snappy desk clerk persona had disappeared so quickly. She was about to give up and leave, when the girl took a deep breath and looked her in the eye for the first time.

"It's not that you can't. It's that you're not allowed to. It's to protect you, and by protecting you, secure the line of the Hyuuga Main House, which in turn, helps to strengthen the village."

Hinata couldn't believe her ears.

"Protect me? But I'm a chuunin! I – I mean," she blushed furiously, "Well, I know I'm not as strong as a lot of other kunoichi, but I do have the Byakugan, and, I train hard, so I kn-know I must be, I mean, I am getting stronger!"

The girl bit her lip again.

"Look, I'm sure you're strong. It's not that, ok? Just believe me. Now I really have to go. If you want to know more, why don't you ask your mother or someone? I can't tell you."

Hinata stiffened, but made no reply as the girl snatched up the stack of paper and folders and brushed past her, clearly wanting to get away as quickly as possible.

_I can't ask my mother,_ she wanted to say. _She's dead._

Two weeks later, Hinata was at the markets, waiting patiently as her new calligraphy set was wrapped in layers of thick rice paper, and bound up with lengths of tough string. She thanked the store owner and turned away, thinking with pleasurable anticipation of her new possession. Maybe she could write a poem on a silk scroll as a gift for Naruto…his birthday was coming up after all…she sighed dreamily, thinking of his cheerful laugh, his sky blue eyes…

Sky blue eyes.

Hinata gasped as her vision snapped into focus, fixing on a girl with blue eyes walking towards her. The girl had a beauty spot on her cheek. Not the girl, the kunoichi. The kunoichi named…

"Mika-san!"

The kunoichi stopped dead, her eyes darting across the people in the crowded lane. When they landed on Hinata, they widened in surprise for a moment. A second later they narrowed, and she turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Mika-san! Please wait!" Without stopping to reconsider, Hinata ran after the kunoichi, who abruptly turned off the busy lane and ducked into a small tea shop. Hinata followed her inside and paused for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.

"Over here." Hinata jumped, startled and turned her eyes in the direction of the voice. The kunoichi named Mika was sitting at table in what seemed to be the darkest corner of the café. Now feeling uncertain, Hinata slowly walked to the table and sat in the opposite seat, clutching her calligraphy set on her lap.

"Why are you following me?" The kunoichi asked without preamble. For no reason, Hinata felt the blood rush to her face.

"Because, I wanted to know," she whispered, "What happened…"

The kunoichi regarded her in silence for a moment then smirked. "So I guess you found out what a lipstick mission is?"

Hinata couldn't meet the kunoichi's gaze. "Yes," she almost whispered, "My genin sensei told me about it."

"And she told you why you will never be allowed to do one?" Mika asked.

Hinata nodded silently.

"Because even though a good kunoichi takes every precaution possible, lipstick missions may still result in an unplanned pregnancy," the kunoichi sing-songed as if reciting from a textbook. Her voice switched back to its normal timbre, "And the Hyuuga Main House cannot risk the birth of mongrel bastards," she looked Hinata up and down, "Especially from the future clan head."

Hinata stared at the paper-wrapped box in her lap. After a moment, the kunoichi called Mika laughed softly.

"It wasn't so bad. I just slept with an old nobleman who had bad breath and a priceless amulet that needed stealing. What happened on your mission?"

Hinata opened her mouth, but couldn't force words out. She closed her mouth again.

"Well, I'd better get going," the kunoichi rose to her feet and brushed past Hinata, heading for the door. She stopped and glanced back at Hinata, who was staring helplessly after her.

"Don't look so tragic," the kunoichi said, "They're just doing it to protect you."

Then she was gone, lost in the bustling crowd.

_AN: Thanks very much for all the encouragement I received from your lovely reviews. I really appreciate it. I'd love more feedback! Just one more to go._


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